Rectangular package of surgical articles in sterilizing liquid



June 30, 1953 c. 'r. RIALL RECTANGULAR PACKAGE OF SURGICAL ARTICLES IN STERILIZING LIQUID 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 13, 1949 INVENTOR c/m/Pz 5 7'. 2/44 1.

June 30, 1953 c RIALL 2,643,764

F SURGICAL ARTICLES LIQUID RECTANGULAR PACKAGE 0 IN STERILIZING Filed May 13, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 5 manor VQQQAQA L'L'LQA SMALWM ATTORNEY Patented June 30, 1953 I RECTANGULAR PACKAGE F SURGICAL ARTICLES. IN STERILIZING LIQUID Charles T. Riall, Floral Park, N. Y., assignor'to Davis & Geek, 1110., Brooklyn, N. Y., a corpora,

tion of New York Application May 13, 1949, Serial No. 9.2;975

The present invention relates to a package con- 7 taining sealed tubes, each of which may contain a surgical article, the tubes being coveredby a sterilizing liquid. The invention is primarily intended to fill a need for the shipment or storage of surgical supplies.

There is on the market today a cylindrical tin can with a top removable by tearing off a thin metal strip connecting the top and the can body, packed with a series of vertically arranged sealed glass tubes, each of which contains a surgical article, all of the tubes being immersed in a sterilizing liquid. The tin can with its sealed contents may be shipped from the manufacturer to the consumer. A surgeon or nurse may then remove the top in the usual manner and the contents are thus accessible for use. As the tubes are completely covered by a sterilizing liquid, the tubes themselves-are sterile and require no further sterilizationtreatment; prior to use It has been found, however, that after a few of the vertically arranged tubes have been removed from the liquid, the normal liquid level has fallen to an extent sufficient to expose the tops of the remaining tubes. Consequently before they can be used, they must be resterilized. As more and more tubes are taken from the can, the remaining tubes become uncovered to a greater extent, thus increasing the'danger of bacterial contamination. Theonly method of obviating this defect is to add more sterilizing liquid as tubes are removed so as to insure the complete coverage of the remaining tubes. While this may not be impossible in hospitals where such liquids are available, yet inthe field and in remote places, it is important that such a package be complete in itself and require no liquid additions.

It is one of the principalobjects oi the present invention to so arrange tubescontaining sterile articles in a container or receptacle which also contains a sterilizing liquid that the lowering of the liquid therein, due to removal of tubes, will not uncover or expose the tubes remaining in the container but on the contrary, the remaining tubes remain submerged in the sterilizing liquid until used.

Another important object of the invention is the provision of a container having therein a plurality of sterile tubes of the abovety-pe which may be readily packed, will take up less packing space during shipment and shelf space during storage than has been .available heretofore.

It is another important object of the invention to provide such a container of a transparent or 2 Claims. (Cl. 206-633) translucent plastic material so that the num-- ber of tubes remaining for use will be readily apparent without removingthe lid or cover.

These and other objects are accomplished by providing a rectangular container having a base in which the tubes are arranged horizontally and parallel to the base rather than vertically as has heretofore been done. The tubes may either be arranged in symmetrical layers with or without spacers or the requisite number may simply be placed in the container without regard to their symmetrical arrangement so long as they are parallel to the base and completely covered with the sterilizing liquid. s The container may either be of an opaque material such as metal or the like or of any trans-- lucent or transparent material such as polystyrene, cellulose acetate or the like which is substantially unaffected by the sterilizing liquid. The tubes may either be arranged loosely with-' in the container or they may be enclosed in one or more envelopes containing a plurality-of tubes.

The invention further consists inthe novel arrangement, construction and combination of parts more fully hereinafter described and shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a rectangular metal container filled withtubes and sterilizing liquid showing that modification in which the container is of metal or the like with a sealed top removable as by ripping ofi a strip of metal by a key or the like.

Fig. 2. is an end sectional view of a receptacle of plastic or the like showing the tubes symmetrically arranged therein.

Fig. 3 is a similar view with spacers between layers of tubes.

Fig. 4 is a similar view on a smaller scale showing a square container packed with tubes in layers at right angles to an adjacent layer.

Fig. 5 is a sectional end view showing the tubes arranged in the receptacle Without regard tosymmetry and with all tubes in the top layer except one removed.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 showing the last of the top row of tubes removed.

Fig. '7 is a fragmentary sectional end view of a square container on a reduced scale, showing tubes packed in envelopes which are in turn packed in the container.

Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 7 except that the envelopes of tubes comprise layers at right angles to those in an adjacent layer.

vReferring now to Fig. 1, a rectangular con tainer is shown at l which in this modification may be a metal receptacle having the top and bottom crimped to the side walls as at 2 and provided with a thin, removable strip 3 which may be taken off as by the usual key 4 in the well known manner.

Within the container are a plurality of sealed glass tubes 5, each of which -may contain a sterile surgical article in a sterilizing liquid, the entire series of tubes being immersed in a sterilizing liquid 6 of any desired material such as ethyl alcohol, isopropyl alcohol, with .or without other sterilizing chericals such as formaldehyde, sodium nitrite, sodium bicarbonate, potassium mercuric iodide or the like. The specific gravity of the complete tube and its contents is such'so as to sink in the liquid used.

tubes in the sixth row is shown at L-IB. Upon removing all of the tubes in the top layer, that is in the sixth layer, the liquid level then drops to L-L5 which is still well above L-T5. This is J because the total volume of a layer of tubes is It is to be noted that the'series of tubes are arranged horizontally and parallel to thebase of the container.

As shown, the tubes are the standard glass suture tubes slightly less than one-half inch in diameter and slightly less than four inches in length. Using such tubes, the container may conveniently be about four inches long and about three inches wide. This width dimension is thus greater than the sum of the diameters of six tubes but less than the sum of the diameter of seven tubes. This therefore provides ample room for a tube to be gripped on each side by surgical forceps and removed. The height dimension of the container may vary dependent upon the number of tubes placed therein.

In Fig. 2 the container I may be of metal as described in Fig. 1 or as shown it may be of a translucent or transparent plastic such as polyethylene, polyvinyl compounds, acrylic esters, cellulose esters and the like. Such containers are desirable because they are cheap, may be readily molded and serve to facilitate an inspection of their contents. These containers may be provided with a similar plastic top 1, the top and the main body of the container I being secured together as by plastic tape 8 which may then be heat sealed to the top and body to seal the two together.

It is important, of course, that the tubes remaining in the sterilizing liquid 5 be completely immersed in the sterilizing liquid. It has been found, for instance, that where the interior dimension of the container in the direction of a tube diameter and parallel to the container base is greater than the sum of the diameters of X number of tubes but less than the sum of the diameters of X plus 1 number of tubes and the length dimension of the container is only slightly greater than the length of the tubes, that when the container is filled with any number of layers of tubes and sterilizing liquid placed therein to a point above the topmost tube to an extent equal to at least one-half of the diameter of the tube, regardless of the number of tubes removed from the liquid, the liquid level will always be higher than the topmost level of the tubes remaining in the container. This fact is shown in Fig. 5, for instance, where the tubes were arranged in the container in an unsymmetrical manner, that is, no attempt being made to arrange the layers of tubes symmetrically. That figure shows all but one tube of the top layer of tubes removed from the liquid. This caused a drop in liquid level from an initial point designated 9 to the level H] which is still above the upper portion of the highest remaining tube. In Fig. 6 the last remaining tube of the top greater than the volume of liquid between the tubes of a layer. In other words, the relationship is such that the level of liquid is lowered at a slower rate than the tube level when re- 'moved by layers and that even though the individual tubes in a layer are removed one by one,- the liquid level never exposes the tube or tubes remaining in that layer or the tubes beneath that layer. This is a rather remarkable and fortuitous discovery because it insures those tubes remaining in the container being maintained in a completely sterilized condition.

It may be desirable under some circumstances that the tubes be arranged in a symmetrical manner not only from the standpoint of appearance but for ease of packing and maintaining an adequate count both of the tubes initially placed in the container by the manufacturer or those remaining in the container after some have been used by the surgeon. This symmetrical continuity may be obtained by carefully placing the tubes in the required position as shown in Fig. 2, due regard being had to the inside dimension of the container, always remembering that space must be left to enable the nurse to remove a tube by gripping it on each side thereof with surgical forceps.

On the other hand, where desired, removable spacers l2 (Fig. 3) may be used between the layers of tubes in packing the same not only for the purpose of maintaining the layers in a symmetrical arrangement but also to lower the tendency toward breakage during shipment.

In Fig. 4 an arrangement is shown for maintaining symmetry of layers in which the tubes in one layer are arranged at right angles to those in an adjacent layer. Such a system requires, of course, that the container be square, that is, that its length and width be slightly greater than the length of a tube. Using tubes of the above dimensions, a container substantially four inches by four inches is satisfactory.

Under some circumstances it is desirable that the surgeon have immediately available at one time a plurality of surgical articles such as sutures so that in Fig. 7 a plurality of tubes is enclosed within one or more sealed envelopes. In such a situation, the tubes 5 may be partially or completely covered with sterilizing liquid i3 and sealed within an envelope [4 of a translucent or transparent plastic such as polyethylene, polyvinyl compounds, acrylic esters, cellulose esters or the like, and the thus sealed envelope placed within a second envelope I5 with additional sterilizing liquid ['6 therebetween. Such a composite package may be packed into containers as shown in Fig. 7. Thus when a surgeon calls for a series of tubes, the nurse may remove one of the composite packages from the sterilizing liquid in the container, snip one end of the outer envelope [5 and slide the sterile inner envelope into the hands of the sterile nurse who may then snip the inner envelope [4 and remove the sterile tubes 5. Thus at each stage of the operation, sterility is maintained.

Where it is desired to maintain absolute symmetry of packing, the system of Fig. 4 may be resorted to. Therefore in Fig. 7, the individual packages of tubes in one layer are arranged at right angles to the packages in an adjacent layer in a substantially square container. While a package containing three dozen tubes is shown, obviously another quantity is within the purview of the invention although it is preferred that a number of tubes be used which may 'be readily arranged into complete layers.

After a package has been opened, the same or another lid may be used to cover the contents.

Such a combination package is particularly desirable in that no additional supply or sterilizing liquid is required as is the case with cans in which the tubes are arranged vertically.

While the invention has been described with particular reference to specific embodiments, it is to be understood that it is not to be limited thereto but is to be construed broadly and restricted solely by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A rectangular container having a base, a

6 plurality of sealed elongated tubes therein, each containing a, surgical article, said tubes being arranged in horizontal layers and parallel to the container base, a sterilizing liquid covering all the tubes, the volume of sterilizing liquid above the top layer of tubes being greater than the volume of the top layer of tubes minus one, and a cover sealed on to the container.

2. The combination of claim 1 in which the tubes are arranged in a series of horizontal layers, the tubes in each layer being enclosed in a plurality of sealed envelopes.

CHARLES T. RIAIL.

- References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

